The latest hit Netflix series is “Wednesday”, which is a spin-off of the “Addams Family”, and Tim Burton is the director. This incredible, smart series has been able to reach a milestone that Stranger Things and Squid Game accomplished. Now, TechTrends has prepared a Wednesday series review article to tell you why this series has gained so much popularity.
“Wednesday” has now become Netflix’s second most popular series that has English language. In the first three weeks of its release, the series was able to surpass 1.02 billion total hours viewed, and many have been streaming it. The show premiered on November 16, 2022, and has been on fire ever since. It even inspired many TikTokers, Lady Gaga herself, to create Jenna Ortega’s choregraphed dance scene that happened in the fourth episode. “Wednesday” has even earned two nominations, namely Best Television Series (Comedy) and Best Actress (Ortega) in the 2023 Golden Globe Awards. The fact that this series was a spin-off has definitely helped guarantee a lot of nostalgic viewers. The iconic filmmaker Tim Burton did a great job with this creative spin on the Addams Family. Now, without further ado, let’s get to the Wednesday Series review.
Wednesday Series Review
“Wednesday” is Netflix’s new supernatural comedy horror series that is based on Charles Addams’ Wednesday Addams. The series has star cast pulling off this nostalgic story and it is created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Tim Burton directed four out of eight episodes of this series and is the executive producer. The series has received positive review since it was released and Jenna Ortega’s performance was highly praised as well. The filming of the first season of Wednesday took place in Romania between September 2021 and March 2022. In January 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for another season. Let’s get into more details in the Wednesday series review.
Wednesday Series Review: Cast
Jenna Ortega
The main character of the series is Wednesday Addams, which was masterfully portrayed by Jenna Ortega. Wednesday is a teenager who has psychic powers and when she makes trouble at her school, her parents decide to send her to where they themselves have studied, Nevermore Academy. Ortega also plays the role of her ancestor Goody Addams, who appeared in her visions of the past.
Gwendoline Christie
Also staring in the movie is Gwendoline Christie, who plays the role of Larissa Weems. She is the Nevermore Academy’s principal and her ability is shapeshifting. She was also roommates with Wednesday’s mother, Morticia Addams, back when they were studying at Nevermore Academy themselves.
Riki Lindhome
Riki Lindhome portrays the role of Dr. Valerie Kinbott, who is the main character’s therapist in Jericho, the town where Nevermore Academy is located. After Wednesday caused trouble at her previous school, the judge assigned her to a therapist to work through her issues. Dr. Kinbott is also the therapist of Sheriff’s son.
Jamie McShane
Jericho’s sheriff is played Jamie McShane. Portraying the role of Donovan Galpin, he does a great job in showing that he is suspicious of the Nevermore Academy for the mysterious murders that have been happening in the town. He grows specifically suspicious of Wednesday, since her father was accused of a murder back in teenage years.
Hunter Doohan
Playing the role of Tyler Galpin, Hunter Doohan shines as the barista of a local coffee shop in Jericho. He is also the son of Galpin, the sheriff. Tyler and Wednesday get romantically involved and Doohan tries to get her to fall for his character.
Percy Hynes White
He is a student at Nevermore Academy, who is also attracted to Wednesday. He and Tyler had an ugly fight sometime in the past and cannot stand one another. Xavier Thorpe is also an artist who is able to bring his art to life.
Emma Myers
Emma Myers plays the role of Wednesday’s roommate, Enid Sinclair. She is a werewolf whose half of the room is quite colorful. Wednesday, on the other hand, is only interested in the color black. Enid tries her best to become friends with Wednesday notwithstanding the lack of interest from Wednesday into her or any friendships at all.
Joy Sunday
Bianca Barclay is the character Joy Sunday portrays. She is a siren and a very good student at Nevermore Academy. She is also Xavier’s former girlfriend. The two broke up as he was not sure whether he could trust her with her siren abilities.
Christina Ricci
She plays the role of Marilyn Thornhill / Laurel Gates. She is a teacher at Nevermore Academy. Later in the series, it becomes clear that she is actually the Gates family’s daughter, who was presumed dead.
Victor Dorobantu
Thing was actually real in the series and was portrayed by Victor Dorobantu. Thing is a disembodied hand who is a relative of Wednesday. Moreover, Thing is very sensitive and Wednesday’s parents sent him to look after her when they drop her off at Nevermore Academy.
Georgie Farmer shines as Ajax Petropolus and Enid has a crush on him. He is also a gorgon student at the academy. Yoko Tanaka’s character is portrayed by Naomi J. Ogawa, a Nevermore Academy vampire student. Moosa Mostafa also appears as Eugene Ottinger, who becomes friends with Wednesday. His ability is controlling bees. There are also many other incredible cast members as well as talented guests. Now let’s get to the next part of the Wednesday series review, the plot.
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Wednesday Series Review: Plot
In this section of the Wednesday series review, we will get into the story in each of the episodes. There are eight episodes in this series that are listed below:
1. Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe
A high school student, Wednesday Addams, comes to see that her brother is tied up in a locker by some bullies at school. When she sees who those bullies were in one of her psychic visions, she tries to hurt them, which eventually results in her expulsion. Morticia and Gomez, Wednesday’s parents, then come to the conclusion of sending her to Nevermore Academy, which is a school created for outcasts. In the town of Jericho, Vermont, meanwhile, a hiker gets killed by something that is unknown to the sheriff, who is investigating the incident. When Wednesday is dropped off at school, Gomez releases Thing, the disembodied hand, who is tasked with looking after Wednesday. Later in this episode, Wednesday meets her roommate Enid, who is the exact opposite of her.
Soon, she also begins dueling with Bianca, who is a popular girl at school. Right in the first episode, there has been an attempt to kill Wednesday but Xavier, Bianca’s ex, saves her. Wednesday and Tyler also meet in this episode, with her trying to ask him to help her escape the town as she does not like staying at Nevermore Academy. However, right before she wanted to get on with her plan at the local carnival, she gets a vision of Rowan, one of the students at the academy, being killed. Trying to save him, she comes to realize that Rowan wants to kill her. However, he is murdered in front of her by the monster that is apparently the one going around killing the people of the town.
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2. Woe Is the Loneliest Number
In this episode, Wednesday tries to convince the sheriff, Galpin, that Rowan was killed by a monster, but they cannot find the body. Rowan appears unharmed later in the episode. Wednesday fears that she might be losing her sanity, but then she decides to investigate herself. She then realizes that Rowan has been expelled. Weems, the principal, then finds out about Wednesday’s visions and keeps an eye on her as she is worried. When Rowan is leaving the academy, Wednesday confronts her. Since she is not convinced and has her suspicions, she sends Thing to follow him. It is then that we realize Principal Weems was shapeshifting and pretending to be Rowan, but Thing loses her.
Wednesday continues her investigation in finding the book that Rowan showed her before he was murdered. During the end of the episode, Wednesday and Enid decide to go against Bianca in a competition and they win the tournament. Right before the episode ends, Wednesday comes to see a hidden library but she is then captured.
3. Friend or Woe
In the third episode, it turns out that an elite students’ society that included Bianca and Xavier is behind her capture. However, she frees herself and takes one of the books in the library. It is around then that she has a vision of a girl that is believed to be her ancestor. The girl in her vision is about to be executed by Joseph Crackstone, who is the founder of the town, but he is actually responsible for killing all outcasts a long time ago. The girl, however, escapes and stays alive. It is then that Wednesday comes back from her vision to see the monster, which turns out to be human. Having realized what Crackstone did, she sets his statue on fire with the help of Thing.
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4. Woe What a Night
Wednesday and Thing go into the coroner’s office to see the files on the victims of the monster. While looking for a pattern, she realizes that the monster has been taking some body parts of victims removed. Wednesday suspects Xavier to be the monster as she sees drawings of it in his gallery. With the help of those drawings, she finds the place the monster was staying and decides to prove that Xavier is actually the monster. Later in the episode, there is a dance at school and Wednesday attends it with Tyler. Eugene, Wednesday’s friend in investigation of the monster, decides to check the monster cave on his own instead of waiting for Wednesday. She then senses that Eugene is in danger, so she goes into the woods to look for him only to find him injured by the monster.
5. You Reap What You Woe
This episode gives us more details into Wednesday’s father who was accused of murdering Garret Gates, Joseph Crackstone’s descendant. Wednesday’s parents come to Jericho for Parents’ Weekend and she confronts her dad about the murder. Meanwhile, the sheriff is at the scene of the coroner’s suicide and finds out that he fabricated Gates’ autopsy report. It is then that Galpin comes to the conclusion that Gomez is guilty and arrests him. It turns out that Gomez was actually covering for Morticia, who killed Gates in self defence. Desperate to help her father, she digs up Gates’ grave with the help of her mother and they find a way to prove that Gomez is actually innocent.
She realizes that Gates actually hated the outcasts and wanted to do what his ancestor Crackstone did before. Weems also admits to shapeshifting to Rowan and insists that she was trying to keep everything under control.
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6. Quid Pro Woe
Wednesday tries to summon Goody Addams, who killed Crackstone. While Wednesday’s friends try to surprise her for her birthday, she gets another vision, in which Goody tells her to find Gates’ mansion. She then sees Mayor Walker coming out of the mansion trying to get in touch with the sheriff to reveal some details. However, Wednesday witnesses him being ran over by a car, which leaves him severely injured. He then gets killed in the hospital. Despite the academy being under lockdown, Wednesday escapes with the help of Enid and Tyler to check the mansion. It is there where they find the body parts that the monster took. They also discover that Gates’ younger sister Laurel seems to be alive living in her old room.
Following that, the monster comes and they have to flee. Having found evidence, she takes the sheriff to the mansion only to see all the evidence gone. When Weems finds out that she escaped the academy under lockdown, she decides to expel her, but Wednesday convinces her that she is trying to save them all.
7. If You Don’t Woe Me by Now
Wednesday’s uncle comes to town in this episode, helping her with her investigation. Uncle Fester tells Wednesday that the monster is actually a Hyde. They then find out that a Hyde has to be controlled by a master, so there has to be someone controlling it. Wednesday grows more suspicious of Xavier when she sees him having a secret session with Dr. Kinbott in the jungle. Later, Wednesday comes to her dorm and sees that it was vandalized and Thing was stabbed. Being convinced that Xavier is behind it all, she confronts Dr. Kinbott, who she thinks is the Hyde’s master and Laurel Gates. However, Dr. Kinbott gets murdered by the monster and Wednesday decides to turn in Xavier. Later in the episode, Wednesday and Tyler kiss each other and suddenly, she gets another vision, seeing that Tyler is the Hyde.
8. A Murder of Woes
Wednesday then kidnaps Tyler with the help of her classmates, but when she takes the torture approach to make him confess, her classmates disagree. They go to principal Weems and police arrives and arrests her. While they are at the police station, Tyler confesses to her that he is the monster. Since Wednesday took it too far, Weems decides to expel her. Before leaving the academy, Wednesday visits Eugene, who came out of the comma and told her that the person setting the cave on fire right before he was attacked was wearing red boots. She realizes that that was Ms. Thornhill, their teacher. She was actually Laurel, trying to resurrect Crackstone to get revenge on the entire community of outcasts for the death of her family.
In the process, Weems gets killed, and Laurel successfully brings Crackstone back. Meanwhile, Enid finally transforms into a werewolf and fights Tyler. Wednesday and Crackstone go against each other and she was able to kill him by stabbing his heart. Xavier is, therefore, released from the prison and Tyler is detained. The semester comes to an end and Wednesday is shown departing Nevermore for the time being.